#cali2019

Knowing that this was the last no-plans day of our trip for a while, we resolved to have a leisurely day of strolling around the city doing nothing in particular.

Still craving Mexican food, we went to a food truck called Tacos De Birria De Res for breakfast. It turned out to be a food truck with a lively atmosphere, with many people eating nearby on picnic tables with fun music blasting from speakers. The spider and queso tacos were tasty, but very far from a light and healthy breakfast so we were glad that we were only splitting two of them.

We then headed out to LA's art district, a neighborhood known for murals, graffiti, and art galleries housed in old warehouses. We enjoyed people watching, including seeing long lines of people waiting for food at an organic coffee shop and a mysteriously super long line outside of an unmarked warehouse. To our surprise, we found out that the long line of 70+ people, some of whom traveled long distances, were all waiting for a chance to visit a pop up clothing)/shoe boutique (Fear of God) for an interactive shopping experience and for a chance to buy very expensive street clothes.

We then found ourselves at Little Tokyo, where we passed the time doing some of our favorite vacation activites of grocery shop browsing and shopping at Daiso located in the Japanese Village Plaza. We tried a yummy honey korean pancake from a food truck for breakfast part 2.

For lunch, we went to the popular Shin-Sen-Gumi Hakata Ramen restaurant. Although the build-your-own ramen shop was more pricey than what we were used to, we really enjoyed dining in an atmosphere that resembled the typical ramen shops in Japan. Then for dessert, we headed off to Uji, a taiyaki dessert place in the mall that we had been eyeing all morning. It was worth the wait - so satisfying with its deep matcha flavors, perfectly complimented by a taiyaki full of nutella. Wish we had room to eat more of them!

It is finally time to head out on our Cali/New Zealand trip! Our day of travel from the east to the west coast, although long, was full airplane movies and yummy eats. The plane was surprisingly comfortable and well equipped, almost as if we were going on an international flight. We had a layover in Chicago, where we feasted on airport deep dish pizza and Chinese fast food for lunch. Before we knew it, we had exchanged the bitter cold air of Baltimore for the warm fall breeze of California. Time to pick up our car rental so that we can make the most out of our ~24 hours in LA before heading off to the other side of the world!

The Californian, Mexican food loving boy in Michael demanded to make a pit stop at La Fonda, where we hoped to order a small snack. To Vy's dismay (and Michael's delight) the waiter brought out a generous portion of fresh tortilla chips and an enormous plate of carne asada fries. Stuffed to the brim with our unintended dinner, we headed off to Jus Poke to meet Anthony & Suzan for dinner #2.

Suzanthony happened to be in town for a wedding this weekend, and we were very lucky that our schedules aligned for dinner. Like many Cali establishments, Jus Poke offered outdoor seating, which allowed us to enjoy our poke in the crisp afternoon air while counting Teslas. At this point, our stomachs felt like they were about to burst so we headed off to Redondo Beach to walk off our meals and catch the beautiful west coast sunset, which was very peaceful minus the occasional commotion from the nearby homecoming.

We wandered to Redondo Beach Pier, which was a very lively place to hang out at night. It was filled with seafood restaurants and fish markets full of fat lobsters, crabs, and more. We ended the night with a "world's best" churro ice cream in lieu of traditional birthday 🎂 - happy birthday, Suzan!!!